Lena & Asaf | Family + Fun Jewish wedding at Melbourne University + Luminare, Melbourne

I love all the effort that’s gone into this wedding from family and friends – there’s lots of  thoughtful family input throughout this relaxed and pretty affair that I think anyone trying to pull of a wedding with that homespun feel can be inspired.
There’s tons of all-round  fabulousness, and in particular lots of beautiful design touches like giant foam letters, and  branded bars of wedding chocolate. Yes. Branded bars of wedding chocolate!  I am completely obsessed with that idea.. and the execution.

I also *adore* the music that Lena and Asaf chose for their ceremony. They chose a medley of two hebrew songs that I’d actually never heard of before, but on giving them a whirl whilst compiling this post, I now can’t stop listening to them. Scroll down to hear more (literally!).

All of this awesomeness was captured forever by Vanilla Images. And you luckies have also got the immense film of this wedding, created by the fantastic  Wheelhouse Studios. You’re gonna love that.

So without further ado, let me hand over to Lena, our gorgeous bride, for her account of STG’s first Australian wedding. It’s a corker!


VENUE
Lena, The Bride: Our ceremony was held at Melbourne University, in the Old Quadrangle. We wanted an outdoor ceremony that had the option of going undercover if the weather turned bad. Asaf went to Melbourne Uni so we already had an idea of what it looked like, and on a friends recommendation we visited and loved the area.

The reception was held at Luminare, South Melbourne. One look at the breath-taking view and we knew we found the perfect venue. Our decision was complimented by the contemporary decor and inspiring menu.

THEME
We used a Moroccan theme throughout the stationary, with a consistent pattern on the invitation, place cards, lolly table and thank you cards.

DRESS
My dress was designed and hand made by Gwendolynne. It was the first and only bridal shop I visited. I tried a few styles and decided to mix two styles together. I knew at once that it was the perfect dress.

VEIL + HEADPIECE
My veil and head piece were created by Richard Nylon. He matched the design to the dress and encouraged me to wear a long veil, a decision I would not have personally made. On the day, however, it was a perfect fit and it looked stunning in all the photos.

SHOES
I wore flat sandals (shock, horror!). This was an easy decision for me as I don’t normally wear heals. I tried on one pair and knew I didn’t have to look any further. The shoes, purchased from Zu, were sparkly, comfortable and matched my dress perfectly. A few weeks before the wedding, I actually lost the shoes and had to purchase a second pair (lucky they still had the same style available). 8 months after the wedding, we were moving house and I found them in the most obvious spot in my wardrobe.

HAIR + MAKE-UP
I knew I wanted to have my hair down and some form of braiding. I had a couple of hair trials and loved the hairdressers creativity. I had no preference with my makeup and I trusted the makeup artist to decide what was best.

BRIDESMAIDS
The three bridesmaids wore dresses from Willow of the same style, but each in a different colour. Being a spring wedding, the colours were light, bright and fresh for the new season.

We provided kippot for all the guests that matched the bridesmaids’ dresses (cream, salmon and pistachio).

THE HANDSOME GROOM
The groom was dressed in a slate grey suit that he picked from Godwin Charli, a local Melbourne-based designer. He wore a white shirt accented with a light blue tie and a white kippah with gold Hebrew lettering.

CEREMONY
We organised a couple of special touches including an acoustic guitarist playing some classic Hebrew songs at the ceremony. We walked down the aisle to a medley of    Ani Ve A’ta  and  Mitachat La’Shamayim –  We knew that we wanted a Hebrew song, and searched on iTunes for something traditional and moving.
Asaf’s sister also surprised us with giant foam letter cut-outs of ‘Lena’ and ‘Asaf’ that were placed on the entrance steps to the University of Melbourne.


CHUPPAH
We wanted a simple chuppah to match the baroque architecture of the university. We had four simple posts, a white covering and white flowers on each corner.



FLOWERS
We left the floral arrangements to our highly skilled florist from Flowers from Gan Eden. She managed to pull together a stunning design that provided flowers for the Chuppah, reception, bridesmaids, button holes and the bridal bouquet. We tried to keep it fresh and elegant, using white flowers supplemented with green accents.

PHOTOGRAPHER
We visited many photographers before choosing Vanilla Images. Each photographer had their own style and approach, but we didn’t click with any. Karen was recommended by a friend and we knew from our first meeting that she was a perfect fit. We didn’t like the ‘posed’ look of many other wedding photographers, and Karen’s candid style was exactly what we were looking for.  She was friendly, gentle and level headed, which was invaluable on the day.

CATERING + SWEET THINGS
We decided against a cake and opted to have a selection of roaming desserts instead, which included Spanish Churros with chocolate dipping sauce, lemon meringue popsicle sticks and pear sorbet. The catering was provided by The Big Group, who also manage and run the reception venue.

MUSIC… AND LOTS OF IT
Music was one of the most important aspects of our wedding so we decided to have a combination of a 7 piece band and DJ. The band was Havana Moon who have been playing at Jewish weddings for more than a decade and knew exactly what they were doing. The horas were full of energy and excitement (and only a few minor injuries!) that was brought to life by the lead singer and the backing brass section!

The band played two sets of Horas and some modern pop, before the DJ kicked in to finish off the night with an excellent mix of dance, pop and rock music.

FAVOURS
We had small chocolate bars wrapped in our Moroccan wedding invitation theme. The guests were asked to fill a lolly bag and take home a piece of the wedding sweetness.

PHOTO BOOTH
The groom designed and built a fully operational photo booth that was able to take photos and videos and have them uploaded to Facebook.

ADVICE TO OTHER BRIDES
We believe the three key ingredients to a successful, fun and memorable wedding are good food, good music and mixing tradition with your own personal style. It’s easy to get swept away with following tradition and replicating 100 other weddings, but we knew that our day was going to be perfect because it was reflective of us and our personalities

LENA + ASAF’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photographer —  Vanilla Images
Filmography —  Wheelhouse Studios
Event Co-ordinator —  Big Group
Venue —  Melbourne University  and  Luminare
Bride’s Dress —  Gwendolynne
Bride’s Shoes —  Zu
Bride’s Jewellery —  Richard Nylon
Bridesmaids dress’s —  Willow
Groom’s attire —  Godwin Charli
Entertainment —  Havana Moon
Florals —  Gan Eden Flowers
Make Up —  Anna Aisenberg
Hair —  Sharah

What a gorgeous, gorgeous wedding. That dress and all the DIY details are truly to-die-for. And that picture of the flower girl shedding a tear during the ceremony

And Lena’s wise words at the end are nothing short of perfect:… “mix tradition with your own personal style”.  I believe that perfectly sums up the Smashing The Glass ethos. Thank you Lena, Asaf, Vanilla Images and Wheelhouse Studios for sharing this exquisite wedding with us.

KAREN  XXX